For a few minutes there, I thought I’d be watching the 23rd inning when I should have been getting out of bed to gather up this Morning Skate.

Game tied at 6-6, tension ratcheted up, and then all of a sudden the tarps are rolling out over the infield. Could a game have any more elements of drawn-out drama? Are the gods trying to tell us neither team will ever win again?

2016 World Series.

Cubs vs Indians

And then the world will end with the score tied in game seven in extra innings #apocalypse

Carey Price is good, but did he have to be real, real good? Not really.Minas Panagiotakis /
Getty Images

Hab nots

Now here’s the conundrum for the Canucks: They know they’ve struggled to compete after an illusive fast start. But when you can double up a team on shots and never really seem like you’ve got a chance, how can you get fans excited about anything?

It remained hard to believe. The Canucks, not young and not fast, were dominating the team many would suggest was the best in the Eastern Conference, and doing it all in glorious Montreal.

But all was not right for Vancouver. As the shots piled up, one on top of the other, so did the Carey Price saves. Twenty-two shots without a goal soon became 27.

You could see the Canucks start to take on water, lose oxygen. It was like they were gasping “will we ever score again?” The missed chances became suffocating for the team which is last in the league in goals.

Harrison Mooney sees all glasses half full: “But did you SEE the Canucks’ corsi?”

The Canucks didn’t just outshoot the Canadiens by a ratio of two to one. They out-attempted them 74 to 40 at even strength, for a truly impressive corsi of 65 per cent.

Well, I just dipped into advanced hockey metrics for the first and last time this week.

Great idea. The real-world, wildly negative Twitter was certainly all over Maddon for quickly removing a cruising Kyle Hendricks from the game after he gave up a walk that should have been a strike-out. Check the replay. Ball 3, that was absolutely strike 3. Should have been inning over.

It was the latest in a series of postseason moves that had people referring to him as the Mad Hatter. (It was a nice toque, though.)

Can we all agree that Maddon's wackiness is cool with limited talent (aka Tampa) and like this with real talent? pic.twitter.com/8pEIpAuYc1

Then, of course, the replacement catcher who came into the game only because of Maddon’s pitching change promptly hits a homer in his first at-bat.

He’s a genius again. A really lucky genius.

A 6-3 lead, Jon Lester settles down, here it comes: Cubs win! Cubs win! The goat is vanquished. Bartman can come out of his cave.

But wait! One more pitching change that Maddon would have been explaining the rest of his miserable life. A worn-down Aroldis Chapman — you knew he was worn down because he was only throwing 97 mph. What a wimp — gets called upon once again, and boom goes Rajai Davis with a two-run homer.

That’s pure joy. That’s relief. But when your team goes more than a century without winning, there are a lot of people no longer alive who dearly wanted to see it happen.

Murray mentioned his mom and dad, both long gone. His mom died, in fact, on that day exactly 28 years ago, he said after the game. “I’m not saying she’s responsible (for the Cubs winning). But she’s saying that.” Lovely.

Thankfully, no riots back in Cleveland despite the huge letdown — though they can’t be too disconsolate so soon after what LeBron and the Cavs did, and after watching the Indians fight through a classic World Series right to the end.

Droughting

The Chicago Cardinals won the NFL championship in 1947, and that franchise — which has moved to St. Louis and then to Arizona — hasn’t won a championship since. No other franchise in the four major pro sports league has gone as long without a title.

The franchise with the next-longest drought is the Cleveland Indians, who lost to the Cubs last night. The Indians last won a title in 1948.

As for the Canucks: What do you call a championship drought that doesn’t have a championship at the beginning of it?

Lest we forget the rules

Aside from hooligans, soccer has one other grand tradition: the vast hypocrisy that is FIFA.

The right honourable keepers of the world’s greatest game protected its integrity this week when they threatened sanctions against England and Scotland for wearing poppies during a Remembrance Day friendly. Explained the Senegalese FIFA secretary general:

“Britain is not the only country that has been suffering from the result of war. Syria is an example. My own continent has been torn by war for years. And the only question is why are we doing exceptions for just one country and not the rest of the world?”

That’s your “only question”? Really?

How about: “What f—ing right does FIFA have to dictate to countries honouring their war dead?” Afraid of sullying the game you represent so honourably?

Shooter McShooterFace

No wonder no one bothered to contest Joakim Noah’s mid-range attempt here. Hands of stone!

No-look pass goes gridiron

Shoulda gone as Russian Steven Seagal

This comes in a little late for Halloween, but I’m getting out my red hammer-and-sickle T-shirt and fake ponytail for next year. Turns out Donald Trump is not the only guy in love with Vladimir Putin these days.

Steven Seagal is so close to him, in fact, that Putin just made him a Russian citizen. And Seagal was all …

My God, did Seagal just out-weird Dennis Rodman?

One last look …

… At the best costume moments of Halloween.

Didn’t do the party thing myself this year, because who goes crazy on a Monday night?

Although I must say, celebrating with popcorn in bed and a rewatch of Candyman was pretty frikkin’ sweet. Because, old.

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